Christmas Memories: Celebrations PT 8
by Theadosia57
Summary: Summary: 50 years have passed since Bella became a vampire. She reflects back on what brought Carlisle and her to this point, as almost everyone joins them for Christmas 2055. Bella's P.O.V DISCLAIMER: Twilight and its characters belong to S. Meyer. Otherwise, the rest is my musings on an AU.


**A/N: Merry Christmas everyone xx So here it is the final part of the Celebration series of 1-shots, this series was a year in the making xx My question is, should it be a prologue or an epilogue xx Thanks guys 'Fool Me Once' passed 90,000 hits & 'As She Lies Dying' passed 20,000, xx Alexis**

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**Bella**

It's 2055, a wow time really has flown by. Fifty years, we've been together for fifty wonderful, passion-filled years. He may not look the type, but don't be fooled, my Carlisle is a dark horse as they say. He can be romantic and loving, but he had a slight dominant streak that I never saw as a human. I'm more than happy for him to save that kind of thing for our bedroom. I blame that on them, once he'd opened the door while sorting out Edward, it never fully closed again.

He will not tolerate being thwarted anymore and his word is law! Well until I change his mind it is. I've learned to handle his overzealous tendencies during these fifty years. We, I think compliment each other very well, a blend of the old and the new. It's not easy when your partner was born in another century and it's not the most recent to your own. He has four hundred years more experience than me and it was daunting in the beginning.

He's gone to the airport to pick up our visitors; it's been all of those fifty years since we've all seen each other at the same time. Some of us have met up on several occasions, but not everyone in the same place at the same time, well nearly everyone. Jasper has been our most constant visitor, the first time was for my wedding and then again just after my change. He took one look at me and laughed,

"I knew it! You just can't help but be different can you darlin'?" was his comment,

But he was right I took to being a vampire-like a duck to water. I think I was so well prepared for it all that I didn't fight the venom or find the animal blood to hard to palate. If you remember I fainted at the sight and smell of blood as a human. I had hardly any bloodlust because of that, so my newborn year was easy and more about relearning human skills.

We had gone to Scotland for my change and it was Jasper and Peter who first made contact with Rosalie. They literally ran across her scent while Jasper was hunting and followed it back to the source. She was stunned to see them and also a little happy I think. When they explained why they were there she was very sad, but knew what I did was none of her concern, it never had been.

"Tell them congratulations on their marriage and wish them luck from me. I can't face him yet, but I will one day. I have a lot to atone for, but first I have to prove myself, to myself!" she explained to Jasper back then,

Peter had told her if she ever needed parts sourced stateside he was her man and also if she needed info on contacts he'd suss them out first for her. Rosalie was taken aback but pleased they had offered her the olive branch. So every time they come over for a visit Jasper makes a point of seeing her.

Jasper told us that her human friend is one of the most unusually blunt women he's ever met. A straight-shooter he called it and I could see how that would work for Rosalie. It didn't pass me by that her friend was human, something she was so vehemently opposed too when I was one. So it was Jasper that was collecting everyone together really and over the years he had also met up and spent time with Emmett and eventually Esme.

Emmett was the first, they actually spent thanksgiving together that first year and as time passed their friendship grew in strength, especially with no interference from Alice or Edward. But Emmett didn't want help or handouts he wanted to show them all he could be a man Carlisle could be proud of.

"When you see them don't mention me please Jazz. I've so much to make up for I'm not ready yet" he told Jasper and he kept his word, only saying he knew where he was when I asked.

Esme was the next to be found after the three of them left here after another Christmas they headed to Scandinavia and Charlotte bumped into Esme. They talked and she even went with Esme to tour the facility she'd opened.

"In my own way Charlotte I'm trying to atone, to be like him and give back to those less fortunate than myself. I didn't realise how lucky I was until it was all gone and I had only myself to blame!" Esme had told her and they parted with each other's numbers and a budding friendship,

Charlotte was very impressed and donated a load of money to the cause since she knew what it was like to be alone and unable to help yourself. Luckily she'd found Peter and although the circumstances weren't great they manage with Jasper's help to survive and get free. Jasper had waited a couple of weeks and the made contact with her. Esme told him she had worked out what he'd done and didn't hold it against him at all. She knew they all deserved it and she actually thanked him for saving Carlisle from them as best he could.

Charlotte and I have become great friends; I am to her now what Alice should have been all those many years ago. A sister, that how I think of her as my big sister, older and wiser. It's her I phone whenever I'm unsure or need advice. Hell, after all, she has Peter as a mate and survived it, so her advice is sound in my eyes. But more than that she's a real and true friend. She wants nothing from me, doesn't expect me to dance to her tune as Alice did. They are as different as night and day, why I never saw Alice for the manipulator she was is beyond me.

Funnily enough, it was Rosalie who first encountered Alice, she was sorting out some well to do family's cars and they were having their castle remodelled and Alice was the stylist. The more she heard about the woman who was doing the work she just knew it had to be Alice. When they came face to face it was Rosalie who lost Alice's number on purpose. She told Jasper Alice was arrogant, pompous and downright condescending when they met,

"Jeez Jazz, she was a bitch before but now, dear god she was unbearable! All, I've done this, I've got that and she went on and on about herself the whole time and never mentioned anyone else. But she must have known or seen everyone? She's not the kind of person I want in my life nowadays, she reminds me of how fake I was back then!"

Then there was Edward, it was ten years after we left for Britain when we heard from him. He sent a letter, no, a novel to Carlisle. Well it felt like it, it was long and wordy, but in the end, it was a real apology to him and me. He had been dragging himself up from the lowest of the low within the Volturi. He's learned to stop always automatically trying to read everybody. To mind his own business and let everyone else live their lives as they saw fit, not as he thought they should.

He had learned much about himself and about how others perceived him over those years. Without the backing of Carlisle and a useless gift, he saw what they saw before, a very arrogant and foolish child. But Marcus had been his only friend and mentor, showing him the way to navigate the waters of Volterra. He thanked Carlisle for giving him the ability to feed properly back, which the brothers had asked for a few weeks before the letter arrived. It had given him the strength he's been lacking for ten years and helped with the control of his non-gift.

I had taken a long hard look at my past then and saw the relationship we'd had for what it was. He used and controlled me as a way of getting one over on Carlisle. Why he felt the need escapes me and I doubt we'll ever really understand. Only Edward knows why he did those things and it's him who has to live with the repercussions. I do recall several instances where it should have been apparent all was not right between us.

The night of my eighteenth stood out of course. As Carlisle patched me up and we spoke of souls and damnation. How it must have pained him to know I loved or thought I loved another. Yet the draw to him was there, why we didn't see it, act on it I don't know. That was one of my most enduring human memories, of how gentle and kind Carlisle had been to me. But several other snapshots of the two of us bonding stood out, why because Edward made a point of interjecting himself between us.

I remember one when we were all outside at the edge of the forest and I'd asked Carlisle a question, he was explaining whatever it was to me and Edward stood there with a face like thunder between us. He hated Carlisle talking to me and now I know why. He made insignificant things stand out with his possessive behaviour. Another was in their home and that I think was the day Jasper worked it all out. I had approach Carlisle asking about who knows what and of course Edward had to interrupt.

I see it clearly now, I was standing in front of Carlisle as he started to answer my question, which was probably trivial. Jasper was just coming into the lounge and he was watching Edward with a confused look on his face. Edward tried to answer the question and for once I'd looked over my shoulder and told him I was asking Carlisle, he, of course, was livid and Carlisle was so apologetic about his attitude to me.

**CM**

All this reflection about Carlisle's old family made me think about mine. My mother and Phil divorced after only twelve years. It appears he was expecting her to grow up and being Renee, well, it never happened and Phil wasn't quite as patient as me about it. But things didn't get any better for her and she is now in a facility for the elderly with _Alzheimer's. Carlisle helped me _set it all up and Jasper pops by occasionally to make sure everything is okay.

As for my dad, Oh Charlie! He just couldn't lay off the food from the diner or the Vitamin R. So his fatal heart attack was not that unexpected twenty years after I left. I did return for his funeral and with lots of make-up hid what I was to the townspeople, but not the Quileutes. Jake was now the Alpha and Billy was looking old and lost. Both of his best friends were gone, but he did marry Sue Clearwater. Funny how everyone thought that dad might have married her, but I never saw it myself.

The most unexpected thing in all this was Barry; Barry Higginbotham was my little brother. After mom and Phil broke up she let loose a little. Well. I suppose that's the nice way of saying it, she went on an almighty bender, ended up pregnant to who knows who! Funnily enough, Renee managed to be a better mother to him than she was to me.

By the time her mind started to wander he was old enough to cope on his own. But Carlisle and I made sure he had a trust fund Renee knew nothing about. So he's now thirty-seven years old and married with two beautiful children. He thinks I'm long gone, killed in a hit and run here in the UK. We didn't want him drawn into our world so stayed well back when he was young. But we are always watching out for them all. They are the children and grandchildren we could never have.

**CM**

I can hear the cars approaching, so as they say, it's Showtime! Jasper is the first out of the car; he's my brother in so many ways. Over the years I've bent his ear more than anyone but Charlotte.

"You good darlin', ready for this?" he whispers and I nod,

"Merry Christmas everyone! Come on inside out of the rain" I said genuinely smiling,

This was my idea after all. I'd seen them all on and off now for twenty years. But this would be Edward's first-ever visit here to us. He's not staying though, Aro has him out on a mission and he asked us if he could pop by. So he's not with this group of visitors, it consists of Jasper, Helene, Peter, Charlotte, Emmett and Sami.

Sami is Emmett's mate and she's the total opposite of Rose. In fact, she's more like me than any of the previous Cullens. She was part of the deep web years ago and had helped Emmett out on a couple of occasions, he knew she couldn't be human so little by little they grew closer until the met up and the rest is history as they say.

Helene, on the other hand, is the consummate southern belle, in other words, a tough cookie. On the outside, she looks like a delicate flower, but that woman has a backbone made of steel. Jasper ran across her in Norway of all places, he was visiting Esme and while out hunting they met up. Well, actually both she and Jasper were hunting the same boar and when he went for the kill he heard her say,

"A true gentleman would allow a lady to partake first!" in a true southern accent,

"My apologies ma'am. My mamma will be turnin' in her grave, at my deplorable manners!" was Jasper's reply as he swept her a respectful bow.

They have been together ever since, but don't get me wrong. She made him work for it, his southern charm and empathy counted for nothing against his true mate. They compliment each other spectacularly and are everything you would expect from a Major of the Confederate Army and his beautiful bride.

As I hug everyone, the doors of the second car open and Carlisle helps both Esme and Rose to alight. They too have finally found their mates. Rose, funnily enough, found hers in the most unexpected way. Peter had been restoring a car for an old friend of Carlisle's and asked her to receive it and deliver it to Alistair. She had never met him before and was stunned to find here was her mate, someone she'd known about for years.

Esme's mate was called Eric and everyone teased him about it, as he didn't look too dissimilar to the guy who was in True Blood all those years ago. Eric was quiet and reserved but loved Esme dearly. He had been visiting Denmark's capital when he picked up her scent. Imagine his surprise to find a vampire running a woman's shelter and a vampire with gold eyes no less. Both he and Alistair stick to their old diets but are very discerning in whom they kill. Rose still feeds from humans and like Alistair, they are always criminals.

Considering how we were all previously intertwined there is no animosity what so ever. As a group, we have all grown and changed dramatically. We will never be that family again, but at least we are all on friendlier terms and in the case of Peter and Charlotte, now accepted as important to our wellbeing. Not shunned by some and looked down on by others. We all chat and I give the ladies the grand tour, Esme is quite impressed by my interior decorating skills.

I enjoy it, but writing is my first love. Over the last fifty years I've written as myself, then under several pseudonyms. I never wanted to write as Isabella Cullen, that's my name and I want to keep it private and separate from everything else I do. Whenever we move I like to make it a game, wearing wigs and glasses or having horrendous accents when we are in the community. I remember how much I noticed about them, all those years ago and I can't be the only observant person on the planet.

So I insist we never use the same names twice running or him only being Carlisle Cullen, that's asking for trouble. Why no one mentioned it before is beyond me. Edward is due in an hour or so, so that brings me to the one person I've never mentioned as yet, Alice! What can one say about the infamous Alice Brandon? She, as you know, started a business for the greater glory of herself and to make as much money as possible with little work. Well, for a time she was the go-to person for home design worldwide.

But she got more and more arrogant, overbearing and downright rude. The Volturi spoke to her several times about her exposure and warned her, the punishment would be dire. But over time and demanded customers give her full autonomy on everything. She wanted to design their homes as she saw fit, not as they wanted but as she thought they should have it.

But too many started to refuse and in on case had an all-out fight with her. Alice severely injured the poor woman, who stood no chance against a vampire and put her in hospital. Long before the authorities could arrest her, she ran maybe realising what she had done. The Volturi were outraged and a team was dispatched, not to collect, but to kill her. That was twenty-five years ago, she never found her mate or ever tried to make amends, no, she was the great Alice Brandon and she stooped for no one.

Carlisle surmised that her human mental illness had reasserted itself. Rose thought it was because she no longer had Jasper keeping her sane. Whatever the reason, Alice didn't survive the break-up of the Cullens, unlike the rest who thrived and grew, including Carlisle and me. I have never once regretted becoming a vampire, I have all that I need or want. Carlisle still moans about my lack of spending, but I don't see the point of having something just for the sake of it! I have my mate, an extended family, what more could I need.

When Edward arrived he was a changed man, meek and unassuming. Not things I would have attributed to Edward Cullen, but this was Edward Volturi a totally different person. He had a gift for us from the brothers and an invitation for me from the Queens. They loved my books and I've dedicated some to them over the years. They love to have me come and read my latest works to them. It's like a book club of sorts, I bounce new ideas off them all the time and we discuss other writers, my competition I suppose.

He spoke to everyone for a few minutes and met the newest members of the group. They all knew of our sordid past and how each had redeemed themselves and of course about Edward's punishment. We were, in fact, a group of four nomads and two covens, Eric had his own, which Esme joined and Jasper once more took charge of his, it included Emmett and Sami nowadays. Rose and Alistair and Carlisle and I were technically nomads, but we swore to help each other if the need arose.

Over the years Carlisle has removed several restrictions from Edward, mainly at Aro's request and a couple at mine. I feel as long as he is being punished, it seems as if he means something to us, he doesn't. He was just a blip in our existence and should be forgotten. He's my ex that's all, but in all this the person he hurt the most was Carlisle. But little by little as we grew together Edward's importance grew less.

That's why today, unknown to him, he will have all his restrictions withdrawn, so we can finally move on and forget it as much as a vampire can. Of course, the point is I barely remember how it all started way back in 2005 when Carlisle returned I was a living zombie! But he does, he can't forget or unsee it all, he knows how close we came to losing each other and it haunts him still...


End file.
